The Thymus Chakra

Chakras are the seven basic "energy centers" in specific areas of the spine that correspond with the endocrine glands in the same general vicinity. This is, anatomically speaking, true. Chakras are circular centers of energy which exist in a more subtle realm, and each chakra is connected to a form of human experience/behavior. How one responds to that experience determines the level of involvement of a specific chakra. Or if someone has pain in a certain part of the body, figure out which chakra that area is associated with, then pain can be reduced by practicing yoga poses that enhance that chakra.

The thymus gland corresponds to the heart chakra, number four, on the chakral ladder. It’s also called the anahata chakra, meaning the “un-stuck” chakra. “Un-stuck” in the sense that when the subtle energy rises from the root chakra, corresponding to the base of the spine, to the heart chakra, this energy moves from the physical to the spiritual. Sort of like the gateway from the physical to the spiritual. People tend to stay in the physical, and this "un-stuck-ness" is a powerful move to bring a person to realize the true self, as opposed to the ego self, and rise to a higher level of being. However, it is not a permanent condition. One can go up and down on that chakral ladder for years before becoming fully "un-stuck". Getting in touch with and staying in touch with that true self can be miles apart.

Except, of course, if you’re a kid. On the more subtle level the heart chakra is associated with touch, compassion, empathy and love. Places that adults have a hard time being “un-stuck”. Places where kids tend to roam freely.

Kids pretty much live and exist right from the heart. There’s an actual biological explanation for this. The thymus gland (associated with the heart chakra) located behind the pericardium is most active between birth and puberty. Medical studies indicate it plays a major role in immune defenses of the body as it grows larger during the early years of childhood. Hormones associated with puberty diminish the activity of the thymus, taking over some of its functions, and the thymus gland starts to shrink after puberty and, eventually, becomes adipose (fat) tissue. As a kid reaches puberty, the heart becomes somewhat confused. The emboldened, sure heart of the child becomes the apprehensive, unsure heart of the teenager. Many times the heart of the adult will close completely, and posture can reveal this closing of the heart, a step on the way to kyphosis.

So the journey back to the heart becomes a tangled theme throughout the adult life. Sidetracked by cultural expectations and conventional wisdom, a lot of people forget who they really are/were, and end up talking about the child within like he or she is someone imprisoned or a long-ago friend, often fearful of shedding light on this clue to the true self. Illuminating that child within can be difficult sometimes, but as difficult journeys go, this one is worth it. Just like the physical illnesses for which the thymus gland provides immunity in children, so it may provide immunity for mental or emotional pain during childhood. Facing that pain can be the difficult-but-rewarding journey. Amazingly, correct posture can help begin the journey.

There is a real sense to the phrase “opening the heart chakra” that so many yoga teachers talk about, for opening that place in the body not only corrects posture and aids in correct alignment but can begin the way back to the true self, working through that "stuck-ness". Try this: Roll up a blanket or yoga mat and place the rolled blanket or mat on the floor. Then lie down on the blanket, so that the spine and head are supported by that rolled blanket. The shoulders and the ribs relax back towards the floor, unsupported. Focus on allowing the shoulders to release backwards to the floor, using the exhale to relax and release the muscles at the back of the body. Notice where the body fights the release. Notice tension releasing from the chest. This gives a real physical sense of opening the chest, the heart. Perhaps it gives a subtle sense of empowerment.

Other positions of the body that are said to open the heart and enhance the immune system, concepts in yoga that are, incidentally, deeply connected are cobra, bow pose, fish pose, wheel, singing and chanting, and as Reader’s Digest has always told us and modern medicine is just now catching up to, laughter.

Breathing Anatomy

Breathing in yoga is foundational. It’s the practice that helps to balance the mind and the body and even balance the left and right sides of the brain during hatha yoga. Breathing is associated with moving the mind into a meditative state, with relaxation, with stress. Breathing can be controlled to a certain extent. One can hold the breath for a few seconds. But once the carbon dioxide build-up gets too much, breathing must resume. Automatically. Obstruction of airflow is automatically remedied with the gag reflex or a cough. Deeper obstructions must be handled medically or surgically, or death can result rather rapidly.

Breathing can also be controlled to induce non-stressful states by focusing on the exhale, elongating the exhale to a certain extent. Physiologically, what are the mechanics of the exhale? What are the mechanics of the inhale?

Below is a diagram of the inhalation and exhalation with anatomical detail.

One of the implements of breathing is the diaphragm, skeletal muscle, at the base of the ribs. It separates the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity. Its function in breathing is to contract on the inhalation, shortening and pulling down from the lungs to suction air into the lungs, expanding the chest. On the exhalation the diaphragm automatically relaxes, snuggling back up into the thoracic cavity, much the way a rubber band returns to its resting shape after stretching.

In stressful situations “helper” muscles assist in expanding the chest. External intercostals between the ribs expand, the SCM and scalenes in the neck region expand, and the abdominal obliques help to expand the rib and the lungs so that the body ingests more oxygen for the unnatural event that is occurring, physically, mentally, or emotionally. As these muscles expand they might also tense and remain in the unnatural position for too long after the event. Muscular pain in the neck and the sides of the body and even in the chest may result after prolonged stress.

The diaphragm relaxes naturally upon an exhalation but adding the relaxation response consciously to the “helper” muscles—the internal intercostal muscles and the abdominal muscles (rectus abdominis)—deepens relaxation to the entire body, softening the breath, often returning to a balanced state in the body.

Hyperventilation is a process of reducing carbon dioxide in the body by rapid breathing. It can cause dizziness, tingling or numbness in the fingers or toes, maybe a sense of being high caused by having too much oxygen in the body. Holding the breath will diminish the effects by building up carbon dioxide, but then, as mentioned before, as the carbon dioxide builds, the body automatically insists on resuming natural breathing. It’s why people who are hyperventilating are told to breathe into a bag—to breathe in more carbon dioxide. The respiratory system is geared toward maintaining the acid-base balance in the body, keeping the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the body balanced.

It would be a good thing if we learned to insist on the need to have balance outside the body.

Upside Down

Wheel Pose
Chakrasana

Chakrasana is the Sanskrit name for the full backbend. Named for Chakra, which is translated wheel, the pose (asana) requires upper body strength as well as lower spine flexibility.  Courage is also an important part of the practice. 

Different traditions will vary on the exact number of chakras, but in the west, most locate seven chakras along the spine and in somewhat alignment with the endocrine glands, though one might find some disparity there, too.  The concept of a wheel in these locations has to do with “wind” in association with the breath.  As breath is manipulated, many believe that these “wheels” may spin faster moving energy from the base of the spine out the crown of the head moving into connection to the Divine.  The chakras do their work though subtle energy channels along the spine, invisible to the eyes. 

Energy medicine practitioners will help a person to balance his/her chakras to keep this energy free flowing with a variety of instructions.  This balance makes life more livable, comfortable, and content.  But how does a person know if the chakras are out of balance?  How does a person know which chakra is dominating?  Most often out-of-balance chakras have to do with body language, comfort levels, and stress.

Imagine going to a party, walking into the room, looking around, and all you feel is fear. If that’s the case, you are dominated by the first, or root, chakra located in the area of the coccyx, most often associated with the adrenal glands, because the root chakra houses the need for survival.

Entering into the same party, you look around for someone with whom you desire an intimate, physical relationship, then the second, or sacral chakra, associated with the ovaries or testes, is dominating.

If you go into the room, looking for someone you'd like to show personal power or prestige, it’s the third, or solar plexus (navel), chakra dominating, associated with the spleen and pancreas.  Some theories add the adrenals.

If you look around, and you feel deep loving and kindness (agape) for every one you see, it’s the fourth, or heart chakra dominating, associated with the thymus gland. (More on the heart chakra here.)

If you walk into the room, looking for someone with whom to share deep philosophical thoughts, talking and listening to gain insights, then the fifth, or throat, chakra dominates, associated with the thyroid and parathyroid glands.

For the sixth chakra, or third eye, associated with the pituitary gland (sometimes called the brow chakra), one simply observes the people with no attachment or desire to make contact, and there is no judgment about anyone in the room or even the room itself. Simply observing what is.

For the seventh chakra, the crown chakra, associated with the pineal gland, all the people in the room are drawn to this person. Most prophets are dominated by the crown chakra. Think of Jesus and the crowds that followed him.

Root Chakra to Throat Chakra
Along the Spine

Understand that one day a specific chakra may dominate with secondary chakras and another day by other chakras. It’s not like a person ascends to a level and stays there. And it's not like one is dominated by the same chakra all the time. There is usually a play between several of the chakras. Typically, however, steady domination by the sixth and seventh chakras is characteristic of those very few enlightened beings in the world at any given time.

The world looks and feels different in Chakrasana. A strenuous practice, perhaps the increase in breathing spins those chakras faster.  The five lower chakras, aligned on the spine, exposed, opening the front of the spine into vulnerability is a remarkable symbol of courage.  The two higher chakras hang toward the earth, lowering the higher “realms” of the body towards the earth, symbolizing the strength and flexibility of the Divine within to humble Itself.

Suppose connecting to the Divine is to connect to the earth, to become vulnerable, and to have the courage to remain there; the symbol for why Chakrasana is so difficult to maintain in stillness for an extended period of time.

The Pineal Rituals

In his book, Following Our Bliss, Don Lattin, the award-winning journalist, traced some of the popular spiritual movements of the 1960s, which gave birth to the New Age Movement, discovering what eventually happened to these organizations and to the children born into these alternative lifestyles. His chapter on Shamanistic practices explained how people would find bliss with the help of a Shaman or through other practices from Native American religions and similar religions closely connected to the land. Finding one's personal connection to life and spirit were important to the tribes, and often natural hallucinogens were used to help connect to these life-meaning questions. Participants found guidance and spiritual answers through the skillful direction of a Shaman during this type of ritual and originally, helped grow a person from adolescent to adult. Some of the spiritual movements that swept this country in the 1960s borrowed a great deal from these practices, especially in the use of hallucinogens, which work with the pineal gland, a small endocrine gland lodged in the center of the brain. Hallucinogens (psychedelics) were eventually created synthetically in college laboratories.

When immigration laws were relaxed with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965, Indian teachers came to this country and introduced the practice of yoga to young people, many of whom dabbled in psychedelics. When the dark side of the use of psychedelics began to surface, yoga was an alternative that produced many of the same results, plus there was little or no damage to the psyche or side effects. Medical studies indicate that people who are drawn to inducing altered states in their minds often have psychological issues and find ways to self medicate through the use of alcohol, drugs, food--anything that can soothe the pain. The authentic yogic lifestyle, somewhat similar to an ascetic lifestyle, fulfilled many of these needs and gave people an opportunity to heal from past experiences that led to destructive behaviors. Basically, people came under the care of a Shaman.

Some yoga practitioners believe the pineal gland is associated with the sixth chakra. Some see it as the “third eye”, and when the life force energy (alternatively known as chi, qi, prana, and kundalini) rises to the sixth chakra, bliss surely follows. Religious ecstasy is often associated with the pineal gland in the mystical branches of spiritual traditions also envisioning the pineal as a path to higher consciousness, clairvoyance, and enlightenment. Interestingly, the pineal gland grows largest only between ages 1 and 2, but gains weight as the body ages. It tends to calcify in adults but still produces melatonin in smaller amounts as the body ages.

The relationship of the pineal gland to the fontanel, that soft spot in a baby’s head where the skull has not completely come together, has an interesting metaphysical interpretation. "Fontanel" is from the French word for fountain. It’s that place on the baby's head that collapses to get the head through the birth canal. That open spot in the skull opens to the pineal gland. Acknowledging that the pineal gland is associated with religious ecstasy, finding bliss, and experiencing spiritual heightening, this “fountain” suggests a direct one-on-one link with God, a constant flow between baby and God. As it closes the baby begins to lose that contact. It is a natural process of maturation. An infant is fascinated with light, staring intently for noticeable intervals. Light seems familiar to babies, something they are trying to recognize in the light of incandescent bulbs. It’s no wonder babies must learn to smile, but they can cry with no problem. Crying and frustration seem an obvious reaction if newborns search for a familiar Light in the myriad of lights they see in the first few months of life.

As their biological eyes focus, the interest is pulled elsewhere. And as the fontanel closes within a few of months after birth, this direct link is gone. Perhaps this is why humans search for “light” in the sense of something spiritual. People who have had near-death experiences seem to want closeness to that “light”. No one ever says, “I saw a light, and I ran as fast as I could in the other direction.” People seem to have an opaque memory of this light buried somewhere--a memory understood intuitively from the time of the arrival of the "life force energy" through the first few months of life.

In the third section of the book, Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, the author, is living in Bali where she witnesses the ceremony the Balinese perform when a child reaches six months of age. Prior to that time a baby is never allowed to touch the ground. Why? Because the child is still considered to be a heavenly being. Only at this ceremony does he or she become a child of the earth. As witnesses gather for the event, the child is lowered for the first time to touch the earth with the feet.

What an appropriate way to welcome someone into the human family. Especially if one believes he or she has given up something so spectacular just to be here.

Listening

Classical yoga was developed through the Hindu culture and was eventually adopted by Jains and Buddhists. This does not mean that all Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists practice yoga. In fact, yoga was originally an ascetic practice not available to the "householder" until the Prakipika, written much later than the compilation of the Sutras. Although there is scholarly debate about dates, Patanjali's Sutras is often dated around the 3rd or 2nd century BCE. Buddhism was gaining popularity and when the ruler of India, Ashoka the Great, was converted, Buddhism became an unofficial state-sponsored "religion" where missionaries were sent as far away as Greece. It was a time of spiritual upheaval, and people needed a way to slow down their lives and find a sense of what was real. Their beloved ruler was no longer the traditional Hindu. The Sutras provided a road map for individual spirituality, a method for the Hindu ascetic to move to a more personally-responsible pattern of spirituality without embracing the Buddhist "religion". Patanjali's directions made this transition to individual spirituality, to Raja Yoga, feasible, but not easy. True spiritual living is a discipline. Some things never change culture to culture, religion to religion.

Some religious leaders and clergy feel the necessity to ban the practice of yoga for their adherents. Positions such as this are not deemed unacceptable in yoga, because yoga does not promote people practicing anything that brings unnatural discomfort. However, there are those who have questions about what religious leaders advise about the practice of yoga. While there are some religious traditions that have adopted some yoga practices for spiritual assistance, yoga itself is quite ecumenical, meaning that spiritual/religious practices are between a person and whatever that person holds to be Holy. Yoga has no preference for a single Holy Entity; it is a practice to come to terms with life itself. And perhaps this is why there is confusion.

Mind and body fitness will inevitably move to the spiritual, because while the three concepts are different, they cannot be separated. Even runners speak of a "high" or of a "meditative state" while (or after) running, but no one questions or bans running. Indeed, after a run one's whole outlook, mind, body, and spirit are generally far more positive than before the run. Few runners stop the practice for the the "high" it achieves through thoroughly oxygenating the body and repetitive movement.

Yoga does the same thing. Caloric consumption is less when compared to running, but the intense sense of listening to the body, aligning the body, developing breathing, and relaxing into total stillness will often release a surge of endorphins much the same as running. Yoga puts the practitioner in touch with the mind and the body, revealing places and ideas in need of attention. An added benefit is that the knees and hips are more likely to survive intact with yoga.

What is perplexing is that lay people who practice yoga generally do not find contradictions in their spiritual paths from the practice. More often the path is enriched. It is only when clergy question the practice that followers then begin to question the practice themselves, but sometimes the opposite happens. Lay people begin to question the authority of the clergy because of personal experiences with yoga. If yoga releases a person from the focus of the ego's desire to be accepted in the religious culture (or any conformance to a group), that can be threatening to clergy, to group leaders. However, the opposite is also true. If a teacher of yoga expects adherence to doctrine or a set of rules, inevitably a student will question that same sort of focus on the demand to conform. Regular meditation practice can call into question these inconsistencies in the sounds of words, overcoming the falseness of words. All people who are in any sort of authority must be aware of how their actions must reflect their words.

Much of the controversy comes from the chanting of "Aum" or "Om", considered by Hindus the complete expression of the universe, a sound attached to the first words of creation. If this is uncomfortable, then again, yoga does not promote the practice of anything that brings discomfort. Other sounds or music can soar the spirit to someplace beyond and beautiful. Is not music, itself, the universal "om"?

Sound as music and sound as words can be quite powerful. A disciplined mind will examine the truth of these sounds and that, perhaps is where suspicion and fear are developed. Suspicion validated that all is not what it appears to be. And fear of becoming who you truly are, shining your powerful True Light.

Rage and Benevolence

Warrior. Attaching an adjective to warrior changes the connotation of the phrase to a more intense level. Shopping warrior. Weekend warrior. Spiritual warrior. Couch-potato warrior. It is like the word junkie but with more muscle.

In yoga there are three foundational warrior poses with a couple of others. The actual Sanskrit word we translate into Warrior is a character from Hindu mythology named Virabhadra, an avatar of Shiva who manifested upon hearing that his consort, Sati, had perished in her father's (Daksha) sacrificial fire after her father refused to accept her devotion and marriage to Shiva. Virabhadra is Shiva's sorrow, which lashes out against Daksha and his friends. Virabhadra shows up by exploding on the scene from deep underground (Warrior 1). He finds Daksha and aims his sword at him (Warrior 2). Then he cuts off his head. (Warrior 3).

However, when Shiva sees the carnage, he is moved to great sorrow. When the Devas realize what has happened, they plea with Shiva to resurrect Daksha, which he does but gives him the head of a goat.

Warrior poses are initially poses of revenge, but maintaining these poses with calm, controlled breathing removes the ego, assessing the body and the mind, absorbing the excitement or the rage. Not to do so can take the breath away, leaving a person sitting on the mat wondering what just happened. How many warriors of any kind get so involved with their adjective that they injure the body and/or mind? What the warrior poses teach is maintaining benevolence to the mind and body in the excitement or rage of the moment rather than the opposite. If the breath goes crazy, the asana collapses. If the breath is calmed, the asana is strengthened.

The expansiveness of the warrior poses, broad extension of the arms and legs, the solidity of the lower body, and the assured, supple upper body, is a pose that looks confident, but not in the way Virabhadra burst on the scene of his Daksha's party, headstrong and reckless, ready to prove his power. The more time sustaining the pose, the more humility the mind senses, creating a more disciplined body by maintaining stillness in the pose. A yoga therapist might ask a participant to move into Warrior Two and watch what becomes weakened in the body; the body may start to complain, the mind may whine, the breathing shallow. Spending time in the pose, a person explores where weakness arises, investigating the weakness, then showing benevolence to the self, before ignorance, impulsiveness, and ego can damage the body beyond repair. It is only at this point that real strength can become available as opposed to an illusion of strength manifested by a bitter heart.

Certainly, it's not rocket science to see what this teaches. Stresses in everyday life can be handled in the same way. Even though the rug may be pulled from under one's feet, let the mind bring the self back to stillness and assess the situation. Thinking before responding. Sensing before executing. Rather than reacting to what just happened, respond to why it happened. Look at the situation with the calm insight of benevolence, replacing the potential to damage with the potential to heal. When life knocks the breath out of you or raises your heart rate, you may recognize those symptoms from practicing warrior poses and, perhaps, simply recover by bringing those physical manifestations back under control with the breath.

Take a deep breath.

Shiva retreats back to the wilderness carrying the lifeless body of his beloved Sati, learning the lesson of ahimsa: Accepting pain without causing more pain in return. Reacting in haste causes sorrow. There is no exalted warrior in this story.  In the final episode Vishnu takes care of the body of Sati, cutting it into 108 pieces, each of which falls somewhere and transforms to a temple for the Goddess. 

Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, the Spiritual Director of the Himalayan Institute says, "With a clear and disciplined mind, we can reach the heaven of our choice and beyond, but with a confused and undisciplined mind, we create hell wherever we go."

Indeed.

Let Go....

Restorative yoga focuses on relaxing the body in restful postures, an adult recess or a letting go. This true rest is different than sleep, reading, or watching TV. Rest provides the body an opportunity to renew and heal, de-stressing the mind and body, releasing the need to compete and to keep score. Restorative yoga relaxes the body by subtly stretching the muscles with the aid of yoga props, allowing gravity to encourage the body to release. By surrendering the body into this complete state of non-activity, something deep within is either created or newly discovered.

The body has a built-in response mechanism to stress called the sympathetic nervous system, which prepares the body and mind to handle a crisis or difficulty, whether real or imagined.  It generally takes up to an hour for the SNS to return to a non-crisis state.  The function of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is to bring the body and mind back into equilibrium.  Living in a perceived state of crisis or difficulty keeps the SNS engaged, exhausting the adrenals, contracting both smooth and striated muscles, leading to illnesses associated with stress.

Restorative yoga helps to trigger the parasympathetic nervous system.  Consciously stimulating the PNS with breathing techniques to relax the body helps to lower heart rate and blood pressure, relaxes muscle, assists in the promotion of a healthy immune system, returns digestion to normal, and returns the endocrine system to a balanced condition.

For a profoundly stressed person, moving the body into these supported positions is often not easy.  The body wants to remain tense; the mind wants to examine every motive, fear, and movement.  As the conscious extension of the exhale releases tension from the body, the mind becomes more comfortable with the sense of relaxation.  As the mind becomes more accepting, the body relaxes even more.  The body is steeped in comfort; the breathing deepened, the mind calmed.  Letting go ensues.

And it’s not such a bad thing, after all.

A sign on a church near the studio reads:  Money is a lousy way of keeping score.  Restorative yoga says keeping score is a lousy way of living.